


dead reckoning

by discranola



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Metal Gear Survive, Not Beta Read, Stream of Consciousness, metal gear survive spoilers i suppose, reeve is mentioned for one sentence so no character tag, relationship can be read however you like, written while half asleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:42:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29352903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discranola/pseuds/discranola
Summary: "You're dead." He doesn't want to open his eyes.Breath puffs on his cheek in a faint laugh. "I am."
Relationships: Seth/Dan (Metal Gear)
Kudos: 2





	dead reckoning

He's there when they rescue him from the Dust. 

The man, Seth, coughs loudly as the medics lie him down, and he looks at him. "Thank you." But he can tell he doesn't mean it.

-

The Charon Corps keep finding more and more castaways in the Dust, and yet Seth always stands out to him.

The others are thankful, in some cases crying as they're overtaken by emotion at their lives being saved; others quickly have their hopes crushed when they realize they will likely never see their time again. It's hard to watch.

From the start, Seth was different. He avoided talking to the Corps, always asking him questions, worried looks on their faces as he told them, again and again, he was fine.

Dan can see his face is empty.

-

Half-asleep, Dan swears in the early morning he sees Seth walk into the Dust.

-

Seth is different now. He looks happy, for once. He's finally answering questions about who he is, his past, his family. There's a light in his eyes that wasn't there before; Dan wants to be happy for him, but when his eyes look his way, something is wrong.

-

Something was off. Something was off, and he should have known sooner.

"Dan," Seth says it like it means the world, but his smile is too big and his eyes are too bright and everything is wrong.

He headbutts him and runs as fast as his legs will take him.

-

He finally has him where he wants him. He's unconscious, or at least close to it, and he can't see his eyes that know too much. 

But everything involving this man goes wrong, always, always, and before he knows it he's having to retreat, another person with eyes too bright peering around the corner of the shack where he was finally going to end things.

-

When he arrives back at Base Camp for the first time in months, he sees him. At least, all that's left.

The soldier -- Reeve, if he remembers correctly, has nudged his corpse around. Checking if the monster is finally dead. And nothing about him is bright anymore, and Dan can't imagine a smile on that face.

-

He wakes up to rustling in his tent and a face too close to his.

"You're dead." He doesn't want to open his eyes.

Breath puffs on his cheek in a faint laugh. "I am." He forces himself to look, and that face is looking back at him as if the past year was all a dream, and that poor depressed castaway is just looking for some company.

"You're not real." It's not a question, it's a statement, and Seth's grin only becomes wider. No answer.

The two lay there, too early for the morning rays to wake anyone except a few watchmen, far on the other side of base. Neither of them say a word.

When the sun arrives, Seth is gone, and the light in his eyes leaves with him.


End file.
